When Donald Trump took office, he could reasonably claim to be popular — and to have an agenda that was popular, too.

He had just won the popular vote and swept every battleground state. Key parts of his economic and domestic agenda were polling well. And his own personal popularity had never been higher — more than half the country viewed him favorably, something that wasn’t true his first time around.

The electorate believed he could (and desperately wanted him to) wrangle inflation and lower the cost of living. Dissatisfied with the level of migration during the Biden years, voters told pollsters they were okay with more aggressive action at the southern border and more deportations. Trump also spent the last year demonizing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, and voters expressed openness to his efforts to purge them from government and the private sector.

Slightly more than 100 days later, things look very different: On almost every issue where Trump had support, the public has turned against him. Very little that the president has done so far remains popular — including initiatives that were more popular earlier in his term.

Trump’s overall favorability has been sliding, particularly because of nosediving ratings on the economy, trade, and tariffs. (His polls slid after his “Liberation Day” tariff rollout.) Trump’s immigration agenda has also seen its popularity slip, particularly as the press and Democrats brought more scrutiny to his high-profile deportation cases.

That doesn’t mean the American people are completely rejecting everything Trump is doing or that the public necessarily disagrees with every position he takes. In some cases, Trump’s position may have more support than his execution.

Still, the popular turn against Trump demonstrates two things. First, Republicans face real political threats before midterm elections if the public mood stays sour. And second, these 100 days show the risk of overreading the public’s appetite for major change. In an era of nearly evenly divided electorates, small winning margins can mask how fickle public opinion really is. Elections, after all, are snapshots in time — and polarization kicks in fast.

What’s wholly unpopular

It’s easy to identify the areas where Trump’s presidential actions are most unpopular. His stewardship of the economy was once one of his and his party’s advantages, but the public no longer views it positively. Driving that reversal: the public’s confusion over and disapproval of his tariff policies.

It’s hard to overstate just how toxic Trump’s tariffs, their rollout, and their effects on economic confidence have been to the public’s trust in this administration. Just about every survey conducted after his “Liberation Day” announcements tracks a noticeable fall in his economic approval — and in his job performance overall. And

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